“Happy New Year,” said the storm that brought cold, steady rain to Chicken Ridge. It said it with a sneer. Aki, who usually lobbies for an earlier departure for her walk, showed no interest in sampling the rain. But, in the afternoon she found herself riding in the car on a drive to North Douglas Island.

Earlier, the storm covered the trail system with several ices of wet snow but nothing falls from the sky when we head into the forest. The constant drip of melting snow makes it hard to enjoy the bright beauty of white on green beauty. But on the beach and on open muskeg meadows, we can stand like patrons in front of a Botticelli and be amazed by the shapes of snow covered trees cutting up a sky of blues, yellows, and grays.